1 [a]Why, O LORD, do you stand far off?
Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?
who are caught in the schemes he devises.
he blesses the greedy and reviles the LORD.
in all his thoughts there is no room for God.
he is haughty and your laws are far from him;
he sneers at all his enemies.
I'll always be happy and never have trouble."
trouble and evil are under his tongue.
from ambush he murders the innocent,
watching in secret for his victims.
he lies in wait to catch the helpless;
he catches the helpless and drags them off in his net.
they fall under his strength.
he covers his face and never sees."
Do not forget the helpless.
Why does he say to himself,
"He won't call me to account"?
you consider it to take it in hand.
The victim commits himself to you;
you are the helper of the fatherless.
call him to account for his wickedness
that would not be found out.
the nations will perish from his land.
you encourage them, and you listen to their cry,
in order that man, who is of the earth, may terrify no more.
Psalm 10:1 Psalms 9 and 10 may have been originally a single acrostic poem, the stanzas of which begin with the successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet. In the Septuagint they constitute one psalm.